Categorical Information Service

CHANDIGARH: Each former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal personal solely tractors and no vehicles. 

As per the affidavit, Sukhbirl has horses value Rs 95.82 lakh, two weapons valued at Rs 3 lakh and immovable properties value Rs 52.95 crore had been a part of the entire belongings of Rs 122.77 crore. The 59-year-old Sukhbir Singh Badal has two tractors (Tractor Tafe, Mannequin 1999 and tractor Holland 5500) value Rs 2.38 lakh in his identify and gold jewelry value Rs 9 lakh, his spouse Harsimrat Kaur Badal has gold jewelry value Rs 7.24 crore. Whereas she additionally has one weapon value Rs 1.25 lakh and work value Rs 3.40 lakh.

Amongst his immovable properties, Sukhbir owns agricultural, non-agricultural land and industrial properties in Muktsar, Sirsa (Haryana), Ganganagar (Rajasthan), Ludhiana and Jalandhar. He has a 2,225 sq. yards residential home in Sector 9 of Chandigarh with a market worth of Rs 23.72 crore. His liabilities together with financial institution loans and so forth are value Rs 37.62 crore.

Additionally, former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal father of Sukhbir Badal who filed his nomination papers from Lambi has one tractor solely. He has proven belongings value Rs 15.11 crore of those Rs 2.71 crore liabilities and Rs 8.40 crore moveable belongings and Rs 6.71 crore immovable. Whereas final time his belongings had been Rs 14.48 crore.

The 94-year-old Badal filed his nomination from his residence turf of Lambi and thus he turned the oldest candidate within the electoral fray within the nation, as that is his thirteenth meeting election. Badal was the youngest sarpanch when he acquired elected from Badal village in 1947 and in 1970 he turned the youngest Chief Minister and in 2012 he turned the oldest CM.

Whereas Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi filed his nomination papers from the Bhadaur (SC) seat, after submitting his nomination papers, Channi stated, “I’ve include a mission in Malwa (area),” he stated, including that this space is backward by way of improvement. Additionally, former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh filed his nomination from Patiala (City).

By PTI

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi has belongings price Rs 9.44 crore, in keeping with his ballot affidavit filed on Monday.

Channi on Monday filed his nomination papers from Bhadaur seat in Barnala district. The Congress has fielded Channi from two Meeting segments, the opposite being Chamkaur Sahib.

In response to his election affidavit, Channi (58) owns an SUV, Toyota Fortuner, price Rs 32.57 lakh whereas his spouse, who’s a physician, has two autos price Rs 45.99 lakh.

Channi, who’s the primary Dalit chief minister of Punjab, has proven his moveable and immoveable belongings, together with these of spouse, price Rs 2.62 crore and Rs 6.82 crore, respectively.

He has agricultural, non-agricultural land and business property at Kharar in Mohali and Rupnagar, in keeping with his affidavit.

ALSO READ: Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi recordsdata nomination papers from Bhadaur, says he has come to constituency like Sudama

There’s one residential home with 14,062 sq. toes of space in Morinda in Channi’s identify and one other residential property with 13,500 sq. toes of space at Kharar in Mohali in his spouse’s identify, as per the affidavit.

Each Channi and his spouse’s complete liabilities, together with a automotive mortgage, stand at Rs 88.35 lakh, as per his affidavit.

Channi has declared his complete earnings at Rs 27.84 lakh for 2020-21. Channi has declared enterprise as his occupation.

He has executed BA, LLB from Panjab College, and MBA from Punjab Technical College and is now pursuing PhD from the PU, Chandigarh.

Channi, who changed Amarinder Singh final yr, is the primary chief minister of Punjab from the Scheduled Castes neighborhood.

By PTI

CHANDIGARH: The Congress fielded Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi from a second seat, Bhadaur (SC), within the Punjab Meeting polls and changed three MLAs because it launched its ultimate record of eight candidates on Sunday.

The ultimate record of candidates of Congress got here two days forward of the final date for submitting nominations for the February 20 election.

The ruling celebration within the state has now introduced candidates on all 117 seats.

The announcement to area Channi from a second seat comes days after Congress chief Rahul Gandhi stated the celebration would go to the Punjab polls with a chief ministerial face and the choice on this regard could be taken quickly after consulting the employees.

AAP nationwide convenor Arvind Kejriwal took a jibe at Channi, saying he had identified that in line with his celebration’s survey, the chief minister would lose the electoral battle from the Chamkaur Sahib (SC) seat, which he at present represents within the Meeting.

“I had stated that in line with our survey, Channi is dropping from Chamkaur Sahib. At present, Congress introduced that he’ll contest the polls from two seats. Does it imply that the survey is correct?” Kejriwal wrote on Twitter.

ALSO READ: Bhagwant Mann has belongings price 1.97 crore; Sidhu declares properties price close to 45 crore

The Congress has fielded former Union minister and former Chandigarh MP Pawan Bansal’s son Manish Bansal from the Barnala Meeting seat. The celebration has fielded former Patiala mayor Vishnu Sharma from the Patiala City seat.

Former chief minister Amarinder Singh may even contest the polls from Patiala City. Sharma rejoined the Congress this month. He was the Patiala mayor from 2002 to 2007, when Congress was in energy within the state.

From Jalalabad, the place the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has fielded its president Sukhbir Singh Badal, the Congress has nominated two-time former MP Mohan Singh Phalianwala. The seat is at present represented within the Meeting by Congress MLA Raminder Awla.

Awla was learnt to have been looking for the celebration ticket from Guruharsahai. Nevertheless, in its earlier record of candidates, Congress fielded Vijay Kalra from the seat. The celebration has fielded Channi from the Bhadaur (SC) seat in Barnala district.

The chief minister was earlier nominated from the Chamkaur Sahib (SC) seat, which he has been representing within the Meeting since 2007.

By fielding Channi from Bhadaur, the Congress is eying electoral positive factors within the politically-significant Malwa area, which has an excellent presence of Dalits, along with their focus within the Doaba space.

The celebration would additionally hope to examine the Aam Aadmi Social gathering’s (AAP) affect within the Sangrur-Barnala belt by fielding Channi from Bhadaur.

Notably, Punjab has a 31.94 per cent Scheduled Caste (SC) inhabitants. Channi, who changed Amarinder Singh final yr, is the primary SC chief minister of Punjab.

ALSO READ: Punjab polls: PLC replaces Nakodar candidate, 4 others to struggle on BJP image

Earlier, his identify was doing the rounds for being fielded from the Mehal Kalan (SC) seat in Barnala. Insurgent AAP chief Pirmal Singh is the present Bhadaur MLA. The AAP has fielded Labh Singh Ugoke from the seat.

Barnala district has three Meeting segments — Barnala, Mehal Kalan, and Bhadaur — which fall beneath the Sangrur Lok Sabha constituency, State AAP president, and the celebration’s chief ministerial face within the upcoming polls Bhagwant Mann is the MP from Sangrur.

The Congress has denied a ticket to its MLA Tarsem Singh DC from Attari. It has fielded Tarsem Singh Sialka from the seat. The celebration has additionally denied tickets to Nawanshahr MLA Angad Saini and has fielded Satbir Singh Saini in his place.

Angad Saini had lately stated his allegiance to Congress can’t be doubted and his spouse’s defection to the Bharatiya Janata Social gathering (BJP) is inconsequential to his loyalty to his constituents. His spouse Aditi Singh is an MLA from Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh. She joined the BJP after quitting Congress final yr.

From Khemkaran, the celebration has retained the present MLA, Sukhpal Singh Bhullar. It has fielded Ishwarjot Singh Cheema from Ludhiana South.

In a state the place panth and faith have lengthy dictated electoral politics, training has emerged as one of many core points with the AAP and Congress, the 2 most important contenders within the fray, indulging in politicking, discussions and debates. There has even been a Twitter battle between the training ministers of Punjab and Delhi — led by Congress and AAP governments, respectively — ultimately forcing different events to specify their roadmap for college and better training.

The political one-upmanship started early final yr when, within the run-up to the elections, the state was declared the highest performer within the Efficiency Grading Index (PGI) 2019-20, launched by the Union Ministry of Training.

Whereas the Punjab authorities then led by Captain Amarinder Singh went all out to take credit score for the rating, Delhi Training Minister Manish Sisodia prompt that it was rigged, saying Punjab’s prime rank was the results of “the blessings Modiji has showered on Captain Amarinder Singh”. He added, “Unusually sufficient, this report has been launched at a time when folks have been elevating questions concerning the efficiency and inadequacies of the Punjab authorities in training.”

Amarinder had hit again, calling the accusations “atrocious”. “Come to Punjab and I’ll present you our colleges. In case you are actually thinking about bettering the training system of Delhi, possibly you must do a ‘jugalbandi’ with me and I’ll educate you the best way to handle issues higher,” the previous CM had mentioned.

Then in November final yr, a Twitter battle erupted between Punjab Training Minister Pargat Singh and Delhi Training Minister Manish Sisodia. Sisodia prompt that Pargat and he collectively go to 10 colleges every in Delhi and Punjab.

Replying to Sisodia’s invite, Pargat tweeted, “Nonetheless, we’ll take 250 colleges every from Punjab and Delhi, as a substitute of 10 colleges, and examine them on the Nationwide PGI index. We could have a debate on college infrastructure and the variety of sensible colleges…”

Sisodia then went on to launch a listing of 250 “finest” colleges in Delhi and challenged Pargat to do the identical. Pargat had then referred to as Delhi’s training mannequin ‘faux’ and launched a set of 14 questions for the Kejriwal authorities to reply.

The Twitter battle quickly shifted to the bottom. On December 1 final yr, Sisodia reached Chamkaur Sahib, CM Channi’s constituency, and claimed to have “uncovered” the true situation of the faculties. He alleged that the faculties didn’t have sufficient academics and consuming water amenities, the bogs have been non-functional, and that the lecture rooms have been crammed with cobwebs and rubbish.

Virtually 20 days later, Channi visited these colleges once more to “expose the lies being unfold by AAP”. He did a Fb Dwell, claiming that the faculties Sisodia visited have been among the many ‘finest’.

Arvind Kejriwal wasn’t too far-off from the motion. On November 27 final yr, he joined protesting contractual academics in Mohali and promised them regularisation if the AAP is voted to energy. State Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, in flip, joined a protest of contractual academics in Delhi close to Kejriwal’s residence on December 5 and later tweeted, tagging Kejriwal, ‘Practise what you preach!’

Shiromani Akali Dal president and former deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal wasn’t to be left behind both. Calling Kejriwal’s Delhi mannequin “faux”, he introduced that if voted to energy, his authorities would set up a mega authorities college with a energy of 5,000 college students in every block, with one trainer for each 50 youngsters.

Amongst different measures, Badal promised that 33% seats in greater academic establishments could be reserved for presidency college college students.

Away from this political tussle, on the bottom, academics and consultants say that whereas the concentrate on training and colleges has helped to an extent, rather a lot stays to be performed. In addition they level to how, in a bid to outdo one another, each the Congress authorities in Punjab and the AAP authorities in Delhi have been dragging college students and academics into politics.

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Over the previous 5 years, the state authorities claims to have remodeled a minimum of 13,844 authorities colleges into ‘Good Colleges’ (practically 72% of the 19,200 authorities colleges within the state) with amenities reminiscent of LED screens, projectors, sensible lecture rooms, audio-visual aids. Faculty buildings have additionally undergone a makeover.

The state authorities had additionally began ‘Padho Punjab, Padhao Punjab’, a programme that was the brainchild of the state’s former college training secretary Krishan Kumar to “enhance studying ranges” amongst youngsters.

Nonetheless, critics of the federal government say many of those adjustments are beauty and that merely vibrant partitions can not carry a few much-needed change in studying ranges. A number of academics mentioned they have been compelled to lift funds and even pitch in with their very own cash to hold out these adjustments.

Sukhwinder Singh Chahal, state president, Authorities Lecturers’ Union, mentioned, “The federal government began pre-primary courses, which was a very good step, however there are not any specialised academics for them. Single-teacher colleges nonetheless exist and all colleges shouldn’t have subject-wise academics…”

Lecturers consider the rationale training is lastly in focus is due to the “steady efforts” of a number of trainer teams to focus on the wrongdoings and loopholes within the system by protests.

Vikram Dev Singh, state president of the Democratic Lecturers’ Entrance, mentioned, “No political occasion talks about a problem if there isn’t any rebellion amongst folks. Very like the farmers who endured to get the farm legal guidelines repealed, academics’ actions in Punjab should be credited for training changing into a ballot situation. We will’t be used merely as vote banks. Training coverage and the training course of are supreme, but the federal government has failed to herald a brand new training coverage for the state. Additionally, no new academics have been recruited for the first part. Authorities in-service coaching centres have been closed and academics are nonetheless placed on election duties.”

No less than 17 trainer unions throughout classes — from unemployed BEd graduates to contractual academics — are at the moment protesting in opposition to the federal government on completely different points. Faculty and college academics are additionally protesting over the non-implementation of the Seventh Pay Fee.

Lecturers additionally complain that they’re nonetheless referred to as in for ballot duties and additional work although the Congress had in 2017 promised that “academics will solely educate”.

Specialists additionally say what made colleges the speaking level was the mass migration of scholars from non-public to authorities colleges throughout the pandemic.

Harpreet Dua, former syndicate member of Panjab College in Chandigarh, mentioned the mass migration of kids out of the state too has compelled folks and politicians to talk about training. “There are not any jobs or any alternatives left right here for college kids. Not solely the federal government and personal sectors, however the business has additionally failed to offer them jobs. Delhi’s mannequin of training is for city areas whereas Punjab wants an urban-rural mannequin,” he mentioned.

By PTI

CHANDIGARH: There’s a rising clamour inside the Punjab Congress over the necessity to declare a chief ministerial candidate for subsequent month’s meeting polls, with many senior leaders throwing their weight behind Charanjit Singh Channi, the state’s first chief minister from the schedule caste neighborhood.

Although the Congress excessive command has to this point maintained that the social gathering will battle the February 20 elections to the 117-member meeting underneath a “collective management”, many leaders in its state unit are looking for that the air surrounding the problem be cleared on the earliest.

The social gathering had declared its chief ministerial candidate forward of the elections in 2012 and 2017, senior chief and minister Brahm Mohindra stated, including that Channi has proved himself within the function in simply three months.

ALSO READ: AAP declares remaining 4 candidates; Congress launches huge marketing campaign

“There shouldn’t be any confusion within the social gathering about saying the CM candidate when there’s already one who has proved himself past everyone’s expectations,” he stated.

Channi grew to become chief minister final yr after Amarinder Singh was made to resign from the submit by the Congress.

The clamour on the problem grows within the Congress’ state unit within the backdrop of the Aam Aadmi Social gathering (AAP), which is rising as sturdy contender for the polls, declaring its MP and state unit chief Bhagwant Mann as its chief ministerial candidate.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which has been the Congress’ essential rival, could not have formally named its candidate for the chief minister’s submit, however its president Sukhbir Singh Badal is the probably alternative.

ALSO READ: As Channi mulls authorized choices towards Kejriwal, Amarinder assaults Punjab CM

The necessity to declare a chief ministerial candidate turns into extra essential for the Congress because the AAP has named Bhagwant Mann as its candidate, whereas the SAD are projecting Sukhbir Badal for the submit, Mohindra stated.

Mohindra’s cupboard colleague Rana Gurjeet Singh has too thrown his weight behind Channi, saying elevating a query mark about his continuation as chief minister, after the social gathering comes again to energy, can show to suicidal.

“Channi has executed an exceedingly excellent job in simply three months,” Rana Gurjeet Singh stated.

Cupboard minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Shahkot MLA Hardev Singh Laddi Sherowalia are additionally backing the thought of getting Channi as chief ministers if the social gathering succeed within the polls.

ALSO READ: Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi is dropping from Chamkaur Sahib, claims Arvind Kejriwal

Nonetheless, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala, who was in Chandigarh this week, whereas replying to a query on the problem, stated, “Sidhu ji Punjab Congress ke sardar hain (Navjot Singh Sidhu is Punjab Congress chief), Channi ji authorities ke sardar hain (Channi is chief minister), and we are going to contest elections underneath collective management.”

A survey ‘Who must be the CM face of the Congress in Punjab?’ on Twitter by Nikhil Alva, an aide of Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, reveals that Channi is the selection with most 68.7 per cent of the overall 1,283 voters within the survey responding in his favour.

Whereas this might not be a celebration survey, however it additionally confirmed that 11.5 per cent voters batted for Sidhu adopted by 9.3 per cent in favour of Sunil Jakhar whereas 10.4 per cent stated there was no want for a chief ministerial cnadidate.

ALSO READ: ‘Folks of Punjab need change’ – Mann reacts after AAP fields him from Dhuri seat

The Congress on January 17 shared a brief video, displaying actor Sonu Sood, whose sister is contesting on a celebration ticket from Moga, saying “the true CM” would be the one who deserves to be on the submit and never that one who declares himself to be the chief ministerial candidate.

The 36-second video on Twitter, which was retweeted by the Punjab Congress, ends with visuals of Charanjit Singh Channi at totally different programmes and occasions.

Even Channi, who’s from the scheduled caste neighborhood, which enjoys a sizeable presence within the state, had not too long ago stated that the Congress ought to declare its chief ministerial candidate and identified that it has been seen up to now that doing so has favoured the social gathering reap electoral beneficial properties.

The Congress has gone on a counter offensive following assaults by opposition events, together with the AAP, the SAD and the BJP, within the wake of the latest Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids wherein money amounting to over Rs 10 crore, together with about Rs 8 crore was seized, from a relative of Channi, in reference to an anti-money laundering investigation towards unlawful sand-mining operations within the poll-bound state.

The social gathering’s state unit has launched a marketing campaign on social media stating that your complete state is with Charanjit Singh Channi and blaming the BJP-led Centre for making an attempt to defame Punjab’s first chief minister from the scheduled caste neighborhood.

Categorical Information Service

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Friday stated he would file a defamation case towards Delhi Chief Minister and AAP nationwide convenor Arvind Kejriwal for defaming him with regards to the latest raids by the Enforcement Directorate within the state together with at his nephew’s residence.

Talking in his constituency in Chamkaur Sahib, Channi claimed that Kejriwal has now crossed all limits and that he has requested his occasion to offer permission to file a defamation case towards the AAP chief.

“I’ll file a defamation case towards Kejriwal and have requested my occasion to offer permission  to take action. I’m compelled to do that he’s dubbing me as dishonest and he has put that on his Twitter deal with,’’ he stated.

Channi stated that following the ED raids, Kejriwal had posted his image on Fb displaying him sitting with foreign money notes. 

The Punjab CM stated, “He’s calling me dishonest. However did he name himself dishonest when his nephew was caught. Why photographs of bundles of notes with my photographs are circulated on social media accounts? There was a raid at ten locations in Punjab, however why are you linking me to this? Had cash been seized from me, the ED would have carried out raids at my home, arrested me and questioned me.’’

Questioning the supply of AAP’s funds Channi claimed that AAP had put in hoardings price Rs 200 crore in Punjab. On January 18, round Rs 10 crore was recovered by the Enforcement Directorate throughout raids on varied locations in Punjab, together with the residence of Channi’s nephew.